Sunday, February 24, 2019

Ebola

I basically didn't see Skylar for about two weeks because he had some big test on Friday that he had to study 34 hours a day for. And I know that there aren't 34 hours in a day. Don't look at me. I tried to explain that to him and when I did he was like "WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY TIME WITH THIS CONVERSATION I NEED ALL 34 HOURS TODAY TO STUDY."

His brain has been totally fried. Last weekend we were driving home from somewhere and I was trying to coordinate schedules with him. We had this whole five-minute conversation where he gave me his input and answered my questions. We finished the conversation just as we were pulling into the driveway.

When we walked inside he immediately asked me a question that was fully answered by the conversation we just had and in which he had participated so I reminded him of this. He just stared blankly and said "we talked about this already?"

It's one thing to not remember a detail of a conversation from two days ago, but we had literally just talked about this thing and as I recounted the entire conversation, including the parts that he said, he had no memory of any of it.

It was really impressive, actually, the way he has figured out how to put his brain on auto-pilot.

By the time Friday rolled around, we were both losing our minds. I had been frantically preparing for our Friday Strangerville Live. Jolyn contracted Ebola only three days before and she nearly passed out while practicing her story for me in her living room the night before the show. Somehow that Ebola made it to Meg's house and hit her husband so hard that they are naming a hospital wing after him. Meg showed up at our venue, baby in tow, looking annoyed that there are only 34 hours in a day.

Needless to say, we were all at rope's end, and we are all eternally grateful that the show went splendidly. We are excited to share the stories on Strangerville in the coming weeks. We are so grateful to all of you for helping us grow Strangerville and Strangerville Live into what it's becoming and we are excited to see where we all go together.

Please enjoy some photos from the show and this week's truly heart-wrenching Strangerville.

Beautiful photos courtesy of Daniel.

Janliee Johnsen

Shireen Ghorbanni

Jolyn

Meg

And now, Strangerville:

This time in Strangerville, Meg and Eli relive Mormon missions and an attorney recounts her experiences at the border working with asylum seekers.

This is one of my favorite podcast episodes you've ever done. That was really educational for me to hear about the asylum process and the problems happening on the border. My heart goes out to those poor people and the incredible lawyers who are there trying to help them.

We are proud to have 3/4 of our storytellers be women at this show, including one Iranian American and one LGBTQ person! We are always looking for more diversity in our show. If you have someone we should contact, let us know! You too can promote diversity rather than leave anonymous comments on the internet!

Anonymous has to be a troll. Considering the fact Utah is known for being a predominantly white state, there is visually quite a bit of diversity in the audience. And as Eli points out in his comment, the presenters are definitely diverse from a status quo of straight white men.

I do this all the time, I'll ask a question, and then have NO IDEA what the answer was that someone gave me. It's a family trait, my mother will also ask you the same question 3 times in a row and still not listen to the answer. I however have realized I do this and so premise my 2nd ask "I know I JUST asked this question, but I apologize, I didn't listen to the answer". People yell less or get less annoyed when I prep them for my space cadetedness.